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Response to the letter signed by the CEOs and chairmen of the world’s “leading corporations”
Many authors, Financial Times via FocusontheGlobalSouth
This letter is in response to a Letter “Last and best chance to move Doha to a successful conclusion”, in the Financial Times, November 8, 2005, printed in the Financial Times, November 15, 2005. We, the undersigned organisations and individuals, represent tens of millions of workers and farmers, landless and unemployed, human rights , development and environmental campaigners, women, students , academics and citizens from all corners of the earth.
We are writing in response to the letter signed by the CEOs and chairmen of the world’s “leading corporations” in which they urge WTO member governments to conclude the Doha round of negotiations “on time.” ( “Last and best chance to move Doha to a successful conclusion”, November 8)
Although we have no illusions about why the corporations are so eager to see the round concluded, their argument that trade liberalisation is a “strong driving force for global economic growth, job creation and wider consumer choice” is utterly misleading.
Their first claim about growth is questionable. …
(15 November 2005)
This letter, signed by scores of NGO’s, makes easy mincemeat of more ‘jam tomorrow’ promises from the free trade salesmen/CEO’s. But don’t hold your breath waiting for any change of heart (or hype) from the beneficiaries of globalisation. -LJ
US Fertilizer prices sky high!
Glen Jones, Texas Farm Bureau
The U.S. is the world’s second largest nitrogen producer after China. Currently, the U.S. has capacity to produce slightly more than 20 million metric tons of ammonia, which is used as a fertilizer and as a building block for other nitrogen products.
During the past year, fertilizer prices have risen dramatically. Prices have increased due to increased energy costs for production (especially natural gas), increased transportation costs, and increased demand. As natural gas prices have risen in the U.S., the cost of producing anhydrous ammonia has increased to the point that much of the U.S. production capacity has been closed. This is because the value of natural gas is greater for other uses…i.e. home heating and electrical power generation, than for nitrogen fertilizer production.
Natural gas is the fundamental ingredient, for which there is no practical substitute, and the major cost component of making all basic nitrogen fertilizer products. The cost of natural gas represents 70 to 90 percent of the production cost of one ton of anhydrous ammonia nitrogen fertilizer.
The United States needs significantly greater supplies of natural gas for nitrogen fertilizer production to meet critical agriculture and food production needs. According to the USDA Economic Research Service, fertilizer costs are up 30.8 percent in 2005 from 2003. In Central Texas, farmers paid $290-$300 per ton for anhydrous ammonia in 2004, $390-$415 per ton in 2005 before the hurricanes, and it got as high as $480 per ton after the hurricanes. Prices have decreased some in November to around $460 per ton. …
The U.S. does remain the world’s largest exporter of phosphate, exporting about 5.5 million tons in 2004, with China (mainland) being our biggest customer. Domestic use of phosphate has remained steady at just under 5 million tons per year. The U.S. exported 9.4 million tons of fertilizer in 2004, which is down about 2 million tons from 2003.
Glen Jones is the Director of Research, Education & Policy Development at TFB.
(2 December 2005)
India’s Oil Minister concerned over output
BBC
India’s Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has raised concerns about the country’s future energy supplies, amid falling oil output at its main energy company. The minister warned that output from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) current fields may fall sharply, creating significant future problems.
India’s largest energy company sought to ease government worries and pledged to double its reserves by 2020. ONGC said new discoveries and better technology would boost reserves. ONGC’s oil output has stalled at about 520,000 barrels a day in the past couple of years and is expected to decline as older fields near the end of their productive lifespan.
Mr Aiyar voiced concerns about a fall in domestic output at a time when India’s rapidly expanding economy is fuelling huge demand for energy. “The decline in anticipated output from existing fields is going to assume increasingly significant proportions,” he said. “I will be failing in my duty if I didn’t draw the attention of the country to some of the alarming facts about ONGC and energy security in the immediate future.” Nearly 20% of India’s estimated oil reserves remain undiscovered, Mr Aiyar said, while ONGC’s record in finding new reserves was patchy.
In response, ONGC – which is majority owned by the Indian government – said it had discovered five out of India’s six oil producing basins and that prospects for future discoveries were “very encouraging”. …
(28 November 2005)
Follow link to see the pull -quote smack in the middle of the article: “There is nothing to feel alarmed about” Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. Priceless. -LJ
Fears of Energy Price Increase Delay 9-State Pollution Pact
Anthony DePalma, NY Times
With delegates from all over the world meeting in Montreal on an international treaty to cut greenhouse gases, negotiations for a separate pact among nine Northeastern states have been prolonged by worries that controls on emissions could drive up the price of energy.
The nine states had planned to announce a final agreement on the plan this week, coinciding with the meeting in Montreal.
But Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, one of the nine states, has pushed the discussions past that deadline. He said he was concerned that the plan to cap carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in the region, and then reduce them by 10 percent, would raise the cost of electricity too much and hurt businesses and customers.
(29 November 2005)
Bartlett grounds BP booster
Ed Waters jr, Frederick News Post
FREDERICK – Developing and expanding the use of alternative energy is not
only essential for the world’s future, it also can be profitable. The top executives of BP and BP Solar were at the company’s Frederick manufacturing plant Tuesday to announce not only an increase in employment and production at the local plant, but also a $10 billion investment in gas and renewable energies during the next decade. Lord Browne of Madingley, group chief executive of BP, was joined by
other executives of the British-based company and Rep. Roscoe Bartlett,
R-Frederick, in emphasizing the need for new energy sources for the growing world population.
“We can make it into good business. The technology is maturing, and there is opportunity for significant returns. It takes no great leap of faith; it
can be a blend of the traditional and alternative,” said Vivienne Cox, executive vice president for gas, power and renewables. …
Mr. Bartlett, an avid supporter of alternative energy programs, said the
world is now at “midpoint” in its oil supply and will see a decline in oil
“no matter where or how many wells you drill. “You are bringing more jobs, high technology, good-paying jobs to the Sixth District,” Mr. Bartlett said. He recounted the history of the world from 1 million people before the industrial revolution to more than 7 billion today.
“We went from wood to coal to oil and behaved like children who had found the cookie jar. We used it up quickly and as much as we could. If only we had thought then that it was not inexhaustible,” Mr. Bartlett said. “Whether we like it or not, we will have to turn to alternative fuels. You (BP) are the wave of the future. If you think what you are doing now is
important, wait a decade,” Mr. Bartlett said.
(30 November 2005)
Can’t help but wonder how Lord Browne felt during Roscoe Bartletts oration: Was he worried about BP being associated with such views, or excited by “the unprecedented opportunities for profit that the end of the world scenario offers”? -LJ
Too valuable to burn
Stephen E. Fleischman, Common Dreams
The Shah of Iran, America’s puppet monarch in the good old days before the Iranian revolution of 1979, is reputed to have said, “Oil is too valuable to burn”.
…What did he mean by that? When pushed, the Shah elaborated. “There are more important uses for oil than burning it to produce energy, for God’s sake!”. “There’s a limited amount of crude petroleum in the earth,” he said. “Oil is used for making plastics and thousands of other products made by petrochemicals which is oil.” He knew what he was talking about. “Oil is too valuable to burn,” the Shah reiterated. “When we run out, what will we do? Fight each other for the last drop?” He got it right again.
War is the greatest despoiler of the environment and depletor of petroleum products. Imagine how much hi-octane aviation gasoline it takes to fly one bomber to drop one bomb on Baghdad, say from a base in Diego Garcia in the Indian ocean; then multiply that by “shock and awe” and take the square root of the thousands of Humvees and Abrams and Sherman tanks and troop carriers that need to be supplied each day times 365 days times 3 years…
(29 November 2005)
